Why a Vote for the AAP is a vote for the Congress

I don’t usually argue with people’s claims about their objectives but once in a while when I see a claim that is absurdly irrational, I cannot but call bullshit. So it was that I (perhaps irrationally) decided to challenge a person’s stated objective. Here’s what @ReclaimBharat’s twitter header says:Objective

I responded. Here is a picture of that twitter exchange.

This post is in fulfillment of my promise to @ReclaimBharat.

There are two national parties in India: the Congress and the BJP. The other parties are regional and they don’t have a pan-India following. In the national elections — the Lok Sabha elections — one or the other of the national parties forms the government. The regional parties matter but they are supporting actors on the national stage.

The unfortunate fact is that the Congress party has been ruling India for most of India’s post-1947 existence, either as the sole party to form the government or as the leader of a coalition of parties. We all know what the consequence of that has been: persistent poverty and rampant public corruption. India desperately needs a change of direction. That can only happen if the Congress were to be removed from power.

My claim is that the necessary first condition for India’s progress is that the Congress does not have anything to do with ruling India. It is not sufficient but it is a necessary condition.

Therefore if you are really interested in getting rid of bad governance and corruption, you must not help the Congress to win any election. But if you vote for a party that is guaranteed not to be the ruling party, you are wasting your vote. You could have voted for a party that could have challenged the Congress in forming the government, but instead you are voting for a party that has no hope of ever forming a government.

If you vote for the BJP (instead of say the AAP), you strengthening the opposition to Congress. However, if you vote for the AAP, you indirectly are voting for the Congress because you help them win against the BJP.

I hasten to add that it is not that I have a great deal of love for the BJP — I don’t. But of the two national parties, the BJP is more likely to deliver good governance than the Congress. After all, in all likelihood, any Congress government will be led by the incompetent half-breed Raul Vinci aka Rahul Gandhi and his corrupt lackeys.

Neither AAP nor its leader Arvind Kejriwal has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting more votes than the BJP or the Congress.

My opposition is to the Congress, which has over the last 60 or so years held back India. They have to go. Anyone who votes for the Congress, or indirectly helps the Congress by voting for small regional parties (parties that have no hope in hell of ever getting the votes to unseat the Congress) is in my opinion misguided at best or at worst an agent of the Congress.

I am unwavering in my opposition to the AAP mostly because at its very best, all it will do is to ensure that the Congress continues the rape of India. I think they are not just misguided but perhaps funded by the Congress to split the middle-class votes.

If you want to reclaim Bharat or whatever, make sure that you don’t help the Congress.

72 thoughts on “Why a Vote for the AAP is a vote for the Congress”

Because of great thinkers like You sir, we have a Mulayam Raj,then a Maya Raj and then again a Mulayam Raj in UP.They don’t even let a new good party emerge. And both the parties loot us for 5 years. How are you supposed to do good governance if all you can think of is removing a party and not think of How the new party is.?

Had we not thought like this for the last many years we would have a Good, working for the people party by now but thanks to you all we have are two crooks party and we have a tendency to choose which one is better for us, the lesser evil.

Short term solutions never work.Think in the long run, at least for the country.

Yaa ryt, Gift Kashmir to Jihadis, Ishrat is innocent, Batla encounter is fake, Give reservations to Muslims. All these will help improve the conditions of our nation ryt? Y is AAP bootlicking Bukhari? And we all know Aruna Roy is considered mentor of Kejriwal. Didnt the NAC ruin our economy with its leaky socialist schemes such as MNREGA Farmer Loan waiver and now Food Security? Kejriwal is a militant leftist. He wont let any industries or businesses thrive. End result we will be back to Nehruvian era of 1950’s where growth was a useless 1-3%. Kejriwal has no economic vision. And the cheap appeasement of fanatics to get Muslim votes is disgusting. AAP is just like SP.

A very Hollow analysis.As a summary You basically want to say: AAP will cut down BJP’s vote share or so to say AAP will divide anti Congress Vote share. This notion is being discussed since the day AAP has been formed. It could have been better if you would have discussed about the BJP’s position about Independent CBI, Strong Lokpal, contribution in lessening corruption, People of India does not deserve to be the ball of a ping pong game between Congress and BJP. Going by the statements of leaders of BJP Arun shourie and Govindacharya Cong and BJP are one and the same party. They meet they dine and they are friends and they wont raise fingers on any worngdoings of each other. History is the example. I wish someday some small time BJP leader loot you do some serious injury to you body in a congress ruled state or vice a versa and then you go to police station to file an FIR against him. When the police will not entertain your request just b’coz you are against these party leaders then you will feel like a slave of these political class so called national parties. Even if you will tell the BJP/Cong leaders that you have written so much in favour in your parties they wont help simply because you shouldn’t raise fingers on any leaders

.Slavery is waiting ahead of you if you think these are the only two parties indians deserve. If you want a two party system like in US then you need to have the rules and regulations and its implementation at par with United states. Your blog is help to BJP but not got Indians in long run.

Now read your comment and see the difference between AAP and Modi.AAP is interested in Jokepaal not in Janlokpaal bil,half of their ministers are in jail.ill governance(Dengue crisis where they were spending 540 crores on self advertisements but not on Dengue),Supporting other parties (TMC,RJD,CONGRESS)lol.They are nowhere near anti corruption parties.Under Modi government Corruption and crony capitalism have been removed from top level.Defense sector railway sector,E -auctions if 2 G and Coal,Government employees active at top level,more than 6 lacs complaints have been resolved by PMO.There are many many achievements by Modi only part which is worth concerning is reforms where opposition is behaving insanely specially Congress.25% of villages out of 18000 have been electrified which were in the dark since independence.Road sector is back on track.Railways are back on track.This government is on a mission mode with a visionary PM leading it…

Can’t agree, you can justify anyway anything. other than Modi no difference between congress & BJP. by the way chandal choukadi of BJP will not allow MODI to be PM. so India deserve corrupt congress govt, if they don’t vote AAP

Lets demolish this gibberish for once and all. I have come across this in several places and I wonder how myopic is the vision of those guys who create such booby traps for docile and gullible Indians.

What is “bullshit” in your reference frame, is not the necessarily bullshit in the abstract. Put another way, you are not the ultimate reference frame. Be clear about that. It would even be much better that you attempt to get out of that delusion to spare yourself the pangs of pain which shall bite you to no end, if you should ever happen to get out of that lovely Matrix that you seem to have created for yourself. And kindly stop projecting your prejudices as the ultimate representative of physical reality – they’re not. You like a stand, good for you. You hate a stand, good for you. But if you present yourself as the sole caretaker of the nation and anyone who dissents as absurd and irrational, you are just being plain obnoxious, dogmatic and repugnant. And I am not the least interested in such nonsense, but for the sake of debunking the myth that sophists such as yourself keep disseminating all the while, I’ll get into this dirt for a while and attempt to eliminate all traces of specious argumentation and elegant sciolism that you otherwise seem to have a huge inclination for.

The author claims,”I hasten to add that it is not that I have a great deal of love for the BJP — I don’t.” It’ll be hard for anyone to take this on face value. But I shall assume that the author has been really honest. In that case, it seems that the author definitely has a strong unconscious bias (BTW, there is nothing wrong in accepting that if you ever realise that!). Again, we might expect a strong denial from him, but the remainder of the post is going to substantiate why his overall stand betrays his purported philosophy, no matter how vehement his denial might be.

“You could have voted for a party that could have challenged the Congress in forming the government” – the party BJP, if you have been following the news and development over the last decade, does challenge Congress at a national scale as far as elections are concerned, but certainly hasn’t done much beyond that. Besides playing the role of an emasculated opposition, BJP itself is smeared with corruption, criminalisation, and is already guilty of being hand-in-glove with corporate honchos. Whatever standards you use, BJP has just proved that as far as ethicality is concerned, it is no better than congress. Moreover, its religious stand of communalism or pseudo-hinduism or pseudo-any-ism is as much a danger as pseudo-secularism. So even on the religious front it has betrayed the expectations of many people. Why did I say pseudo-hinduism? Hope this WikiLeaks revelation that debunks the hypocrisy completely clarifies,

You might begin to wonder after all this, what’s real about the BJP, what’s not! Yes, its the same WikiLeaks you went gaga about when you saw the Rajeev Gandhi revelation!

As regards corruption, BJP might have perpetrated lesser scams, but that’s because Congress has ruled much more. BJP has ruled for a lesser duration, in lesser states, and indeed very little at the centre. But the deviousness was there, the intent to mock the system was there with BJP rule whether you like it or not, and the situation appears even grimmer when you consider deviousness per unit duration of BJP rule.

Having argued to that end, let me clarify why the political parties so far don’t hold any significant cradle of hope as far improving the current mess is concerned. And that’s because – none of them recognise the problems as systemic. They talk of good governance, bad governance, state interference, non-interference and so on (and only fool the dirty guttersnipes or the inferior proletariate by obfuscating the real issues). While all these admittedly are some of the problems, the actual problems shall entrenched as long as parties look for symptomatic treatment of menaces that bedevil the country and attempt to uproot the actual evils responsible for such messes. I must, however, say that your suggestion of voting out congress is great because it has failed to reform itself. Worse still, it goes brazen with each passing day. But your suggestion to undermine everyone else and be religiously devoted to the BJP is incredibly symptomatic. You are arguing with nigh-insuperable sophistries to the end that resolution of Evil1 is Evil2. I don’t know in which universe that happens to be true! So you see, these shortcuts usually just replace one mess with another mess, which may be preferable to you because of your conscious or subconscious predilection for certain ideological stands.

So, your overall stand indeed controverts all your tall claims and even flummoxes me as to how someone can be so confident with such a flawed train of logic! While you claim that you have a way out to “reclaim India”, you seem to overlook the fact that you just don’t want to target the evils. Selective targeting is indeed weird. The enemy is ‘criminalisation of politics, vote-bank politics, pseudo-secularism, pseudo-hinduism, collusion with powerful honchos, mediahouses, opaqueness of government transactions’ etc. Lets be clear about that. Its not Congress or BJP or other parties. But, of course, by embracing such criminalisation openly, most national parties have lost their credibility and have spoiled the spirit of clean democracy. So effectively, the inescapable conclusion of your flawed stand is that you want the evils to continue, but just want to replace the protagonist! Even then, I have no problem with that. That’s your perception, and there is mine as well. Either of could be right or either of us could be wrong. But your fascist idea to come up with a blogpost to indicate why your viewpoint is morally, practically, ethically superior to those of others is totally snobbish. It reeks of arrogance, a self-serving attitude and probably even a hidden agenda to disseminate such jaundiced viewpoints as panacea to all problems. Worse still, you want to suppress all parties which want to eradicate problems by getting to the root. Their claims may be ambitious, their ideology may be too utopian, but advocating suppression of emerging parties which want to target the deep-rooted evils of the system is indeed perverse. That’s why, I had said earlier that its difficult to believe that you do have no bias as you assert so forcefully.

Indeed, I cannot help but conclude that your idea is to force a dichotomy between the devil and the deep sea. The fact is that if you fall for either of them, the pestilence that has plagued the political system will manage to survive. Remember, symptomatic treatment is always a dangerous choice. That way you can suppress the symptoms for a short while, but they’ll resuscitate themselves soon enough to only impair the society by devious means that we might not even be able to contemplate or conceive as of now!

Normally, I don’t reply to such comments – the ones made by you and Tarun.

But as an aberration, this time I will.

Does it matter sir – whether I used thesaurus.com, the hardcopy of the Roget’s thesaurus which is on my book-shelf, or the one that is at the back of my mind? If that was your way of demolishing the points I tried to put forth, I am sorry sir, I indeed have no defence. You may believe whatever your fancy pleases.

And lastly, calling me Manish Tewari – that’s indeed disappointing and even annoying, given that I myself hate supercilious sophists such as Manish Tewari. To that I can directly say,”You can kill me sir, but you cannot insult me!”

“supercilious sophists” – Dude, my head hurts. Someone imbued you with the nonsense that being able to churn out these obscure English words will make you sound authentic. It doesn’t work that way.

You wrote:

“If that was your way of demolishing the points I tried to put forth, I am sorry sir, I indeed have no defence.”

I was not trying to ‘demolish’ anything, I couldn’t even complete reading what initially said not because I was unable to comprehend your usage of the language. I stopped reading because you don’t *explain* anything. That coupled with obscure ingileesh words makes it so intolerable. Extremely intolerable situations like this often give birth to hilarious comedy of ironic kind (If you are from AP, you can watch Jandhyala movies to know what I am referring to). So know that I was not trying to argue about anything you said because there was none worth arguing. I was just having fun 🙂

My bad. I thought there was a shadow of sincerity in the comment. Didn’t know the objection was that frivolous. Thanks! You have provided me yet another reason to not engage in conversations with people like you. Good luck!

Anything less scintillating, would have been a disappointment 🙂
Nothing to add on the logic and construct, so won’t. Moreover, we have covered this ground elsewhere in painstaking detail – the sad part is that there are too few dreamers and too many pragmatists, so OUGHT is always sacrificed at the altar of IS,,,,,

Rulers and masters may change – but if the principles and values entrenched in a system which throws up such a change [ of rulers], if those are not replaced, then the new set of rulers will soon take on the character of the old set, willy nilly. And honestly, I would not blame the new rulers for changing so.

For change to be longer lasting, we need to move towards system dependence rather than party/personality dependence. [Obviously, by that i mean, the systems surrounding the electoral, executive, legislative and criminal justice landscape, the rest can follow once those 4 are in place]. The former ensures that aberrations and/or violations are spotted and addressed promptly, while the latter leaves the system vulnerable to the whims n fancies of the individual or set of individuals and their interpretation of a particular law/statute/working style. [CBI independent? Who decides? How?].
Enuff said. I was spsd to shut my trap after the first 3.5 lines 🙂

In fact, you’ll be amused to know that I saw this article just before I was leaving for the train station. Can’t really give you an appropriate analogy, but the best I can think of, at the moment is: Imagine that you are writing an exam. Time is almost over. And suddenly, you see that you have missed a 50-mark essay in a 100-mark exam! Something of that sort. And in the resulting commotion, you end up writing a piece – its that piece that you just read.

BTW, you sir, are too generous, and we both know that it is obviously far from perfect. 🙂 Nevertheless thanks, and still it does flatter me when I receive accolades from someone as immaculate as yourself 🙂 Moreover, you have nicely brought out the important point that I wished to illustrate, but which I failed to impart a very precise tangible form – the difference between dreamers and pragmatists (#PlayJohnLennon_Imagine!). Thanks for that explicit commentary too and the short but insightful points about reforming the corrupted pillars of democracy!

I must admit, however, that I also had the advantage of picking up some lines from some of my earlier posts, and I did unashamedly transcribe them here. I thought that they would nicely substantiate the point I wanted to make (not wanting to miss the train being another reason!). But it was indeed written in tremendous haste, even at the risk of missing the train and the subsequent flight, because I somehow got overcome by the compulsive obsessive feeling that I must counter such a nonsensical stand purportedly doped with Devil-knows-what-Pragmatism!

Some guys have pointed out some serious objections to my post here. Do read them! Need to sleep now – I am too sleepy coz I have been travelling continuously for 1 full day. Need to relax. Will reply to some replies posted to me and then go to sleep. And then shall come back tomorrow 🙂

The author is spreading lies. The comments are not in chronological order. Moreover, I did make the last two comments after which Akash vanished. Anyone who wants to know can go to the article and check for himself by checking the timings. I shall mention the same on his post as well.

Again, as I have written in a reply to yogirk, I don’t normally respond to such comments. This time, I will though, for a change, if you will.

If I can really get the hang of your insinuation, you probably want to play a pun on control, by suggesting that I am a Congress troll. I challenge you to find a single post in which I have defended Congress; rather if you go through my posts, you will see repeated attacks on congress. Still, you are welcome to substantiate your tall claim with factual evidence (not your whims and fancies).

If on the other hand, you are like those philosophers who seek I’m possible in impossible and now here in nowhere, or if your inspiration to castigate me originates therefrom, I am indeed hapless as regards my defence.

And you say, I am a ‘known troll’. I wonder what makes you say that. As far as I can see, you have made a disqus id very recently and you haven’t commented much either. I wonder how I am such a ‘known-troll’, so absurdly familiar to someone such as yourself.

‘Best to block’ – Well, if Atanu wishes he can block me. I don’t question that. But your argument to block me indeed is a wonderful way of demolishing my points. I can only take that you are not willing to listen to an alternative viewpoint, in which case the whole debate is pointless.

Good luck. This is the last time I am entertaining such comments on this forum and I won’t be responding any more.

Good Luck Control. AAP is now in power in Delhi with an EXPECTED ALLIANCE with same Congi bastards!!

What do you have to say now about AAP? I am claiming my donation back on charges on treachery, back stabbing and playing with public sentiments. Can you recommend a section from our bogus constitution to do that. In fact I will now begin a massive campaign to this effect. India is fuckin doomed. What chutia bunch of people this country is home to.

All he is saying is if you vote for aap, you help congress come into power, why is it so difficult for you to understand. And stop this deliberate charade of ‘bjp as bad as congress’ to feed your aap megalomania

Bad luck Aditya, It is indeed a case of false cause. The false cause of AAP. Your HERO AK has joined hands with the same crooks who sucked you dry. There is no hope now. The Congi snakes will do their best to obfuscate the real issues that need to be addressed. So you will continue to ROT. May be you need to wait another 10 years. I think you can as you are used to tortures and indignity anyway.

I did not expect this from you, Atanu. There are plenty of good reasons to not vote for AAP, including their populism, statism and socialism. You just gave a non-reason. Unless you prove that the number of pro-BJP people voting for AAP exceeds the number of pro-Congress people voting for AAP, you don’t have a logical basis for saying that voting for AAP helps Congress.

Even otherwise, just look at the USA. Both of their major parties share the same agenda: less economic freedom, less civil liberties, more inflation and more taxes. They could have changed that by voting for Gary Johnson. Of course, he wouldn’t have won the last election. But it would have given a major boost to the possibility of changing the status quo sometime in the future, say within the next decade. But they didn’t do that. They thought just like you have and added four to the number of years of suffering they have to endure.

Don’t vote for AAP. But don’t shut the door on any small political parties that may come up in future. People with great ideas are always small in number.

Please vote for BJP because there is a chance to get Modi as PM. Don’t vote for AAP, because they are a bunch of populist idiots. Don’t vote for Congress because they are the most corrupt. That would have been a proper argument.

Dear Mr. Kejriwal & respected members of the AAP,
I am writing this letter to you to discuss your current and future tactics and to attempt to help your cause of overthrowing the current evil that governs our country.

First, let me begin by saying thank you. Thank you for being bold enough to take the first step and to make the sacrifices that many of the citizens of this country wish they could also take but are too afraid to – for fear of the repercussions of challenging the powers that be. When you decided to join politics, you shook up the system in a way that was required and showed all of us that a common man, someone who does not come from a political family or a business empire can also try and shake up the system, and for this you have the my respect and of many people like me.

However, your recent activities, since the formation of your party are a major cause for concern – and I hope to try and get you to use alternative methods – which I believe can help you succeed. My sole reason for doing this, is because, like you, I consider myself to be a patriot – and I cannot bear to see my country being run into the ground like it has been. It has been 60+ years since we got rid of our colonisers – but it seems we thought that we only have to fight for freedom once. We need to realise again that the fight for freedom is a daily occurence. We have to learn that freedom is a precious thing, and that it is in human nature to control and to demand power.

I have spent time reviewing your website, your vision, and your recent activities. And I would like to raise a few concerns:

1) Focus on ‘Bijli-Pani’
While I understand your concern that electricity rates are very high, and that there may be corruption involved – let us please compare this situation to what used to exist before, when the electricity was run by DESU / DVB. Compared to those days, the number of power cuts and the availability of electricity has drastically improved. Why has it done so? This is becuase the private companies involved in distributing the electricity (DISCOMs) want to make a profit. They can only do this by providing you a service at a price. When the electricity was provided by the government – all manner of people were getting electricity for free, and electricity bills were going unpaid for decades! Not only that – producing electricity comes at a cost. To start distributing it for free means that somebody will have to bear that cost. Who bears that cost in the end? It is the Aam Aadmi. It is the tax that all of us pay everytime we earn an income or buy something from a shop that is used to finance that ‘free electricty’. If not the tax, then the government will print the money, or borrow it from other countries. I don’t think I need to explain why that is very bad for the country. And if there is no money available – then we get what we have always got – Power cuts. Power cuts mean that the poor student who is studying under a tubelight cannot pass his exams. It means the doctors in the hospital have to find alternative means to ensure that they can still conduct their surgeries. It means that office goers cannot perform any work when the temperature rises in the summer.

Therefore, although you are getting lots of support from the local people about the electricity – please understand – I believe it is the wrong strategy to follow and will end up harming all of us in the long run. If you start convincing people to stop paying bills you discourage private companies from getting involved in supplying the infrastructure of this country. This is a bad idea – because our government is too poor, corrupt and incompetent to do this by itself. There is nothing wrong with a company making money to provide us with electricity – as long the electricty we are getting is of good quality. Good quality means that it is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – as much as we require, and that it does not damage our electrical equipment. I may be 100% wrong – but I believe that this is all the aam aadmi wants. You are fighting for cheaper electrcity bills, and of course you will get support – who doesn’t want to get a discount on things? But what will you do when the city starts to face power cuts because the power comapnies cannot afford to pay for the electricity supply?? Also – by employing these tactics – you are discouraging private companies from providing this service – this is a mistake. These companies have the talent and the money to help us, when our government does not. Why should we not use this to our advantage? Instead taking such an aggressive stance against these companies, we should find a way to work together with them. Let us not forget what our outcome should be – Quality electricty for all available 24/7. If people think it is too expensive – they will find ways to use less of it. They will sell more energy efficient A/cs/ They will create more energy efficient light bulbs. Let us not assume that the people of our country are stupid. They will find a way – but that way must be free for them to find.

The same goes for water. Yes water is a basic necessity. But that does not mean that it should be free. Making that water clean, usable, and drinkable comes at a cost. Who is going to pay that cost? Money does not come from thin air. Let us first get the people who are willing to pay for that water to pay – then we can start find methods to deal with the people who cannot afford it. The DJB definitely needs to be disbanded – but what are your idea for what structure needs to be in its place?

2) Jan Lokpal Bill
Sir – the Jan Lokpal is a bad idea. For very simple reasons. It depends on what you think the root cause of corruption in our country is. I believe the root cause is that we have given too much power to the government of our country. This is why they are corrupt. We have people telling us what movies we are allowed to watch, and deciding what the price of bread and railways are. The rest of the world does not require this – and they are much richer than we are. There is no complex or magical solution behind all of this – it is simple. The role of the government should be that of an umpire in cricket – but not a player. In our country the government makes the rules, and also ‘plays the game’. Naturally it will change all of the rules to ensure it wins. The only role of the government should be the protection of the citizens of this country – from all enemies – foreign & domestic. That means greedy businessmen, as well thieves rapists and foreign invaders. But the government should not be involved, for example in running airlines, 5-star hotels, railways, or providing telephones. These jobs can be better handled by private companies who dedicate their time and energy to providing this service. And if they decided to cheat us – that is when the government must step in to stop that from happening. But if the government is also involved in all these businesses – instead of stopping others from cheating us – naturally it will want to be involved in the cheating too – because who is going to stop the government? Because of this reason – a Lokpal bill is useless. You are adding more government depeartments to an already gigantic government. If nothing is getting done now, even less will get done with a lokpal that is going to start questioning every move of a government official.

If we want to reduce corruption, we need to get the government out of business – so that it can be free to watch over the people who ARE running businesses.

If I were to ask you – who is the telecom minister of USA – what would your answer be? You can look this information up on the Internet – USA does not have a telecom minister. If I asked you – who is the railways minister of Singapore – again – the answer is the same – There is no Railways minister of Singapore. How is it that these countries have such efficient services – because they leave the provision of these services up to the businessmen. And that means they have the time, the resources and the money to watch over them to ensure they are providing good service. They can do it because they are not personally invovled in running these services.

It is these types of ‘Big Ideas’ that we need to inspire the public and to cause a revolution. To add one more government department to aan already corrupt government will not inspire people – and I believe it will not get you the votes you require to be successful.

3) Hunger Strikes / Protests
Sir, I understand your need to be heard and make yourself known to the country – and therefore you resort to these methods of protest. But i believe that these methods will not get you any votes. When resort to these types of tactics – you distance yourself from the Aam Aadmi – because this is a protest that the Aam Aadmi cannot be a part of. Not all of us can sit on a hunger strike – not all of us believe that a hunger strike is susccesful either. Yes you get media attention – even popularity and respect from people – but this will not translate into votes. I believe that these methods are outdated.This is the 21st century – and we have many other means available to us to make our voice heard and to get our message across. I also believe that these methods are negative – they do not give the opposing side a chance to reach a compromise. Being so rigid in our thinking is not practical – and it means that if a second best solution exists – it cannot be used without it being percieved as a ‘loss’ by one side and ‘win’ by the other. We have the greatest communication medium that ever existed at our disposal – the internet – to get our ideas across. We should be more savvy about how to use the media to our advantage. The costs of doing this are very low in this day and age. I do not believe a hunger strike will win you more votes. Yes, they were effective many years ago – but I do not believe they will work now.

4) Issues that should be raised in the Delhi Election
Sirs – I believe that in order to win the upcoming Delhi election – you need to choose a different set of issues to fight on – and I believe these will make you more popular:

a) The safety and security of ALL of Delhi citizens – Men & Women. While you were present at the delhi protests regarding the ganagrape incident in Delhi – I believe you should be a lot louder about this issue. The fact that you are not protesting this as loudly as Bijli-Paani is bad for your party – you are indirectly saying that you don’t care about women just like the larger political parties. If you make this one of your principal issues on which to fight the Delhi election – you will get not just all the women to vote for you – but all of the good-thinking men who worry about their mothers, wifes, sisters, daughters and friends also.

b) Coming from a) – is a related point – the Delhi Police force. The police forces of India are still trained to think that they are defending a foreign power from the local population – nothing has changed in a 100 years. An AAM AADMI in Delhi will never think of going to the Police to demand justice. Every aam aadmi fears the local police. This is a shame – because we are the ones who pay the salary of the police force to provide us with security and safety – and we do not get any! If the police do not give you justice – of course you will turn to a local goonda instead. And this in turns makes everyone a lawbreaker and allows criminal elements to enter politics. Because the police themselves are the biggest criminals. You should try and present new ideas to the public about security – For one – that we should propose a local security force which works for the residents of Delhi. The Delhi Police works from the central government – it is not concerned with protecting local citizens at all. This is why the gangrape happened – because the police is not concerned with protecting locals – only protecting its masters – the corrupt politicians

c) TRAFFIC
Sir – no political party raises Traffic enforcement as an issue – but it is a HUGE issue – and it affects the Aam Aadmi greatly. Ask yourself – and those around you – if they know of any friend or family member who has died in a car accident. I am sure that this number will be very very very high – is this not shocking? That more people die while travelling on the road than from disease? But no current politician cares about this. That is because no politician sees this. they travel by Laal Batti cars or by helicopters – so why should they care. When I say traffic I mean traffic from all aspects:
– I mean that our roads should be constructed so that they are not broken causing 2 wheelers to fall into potholes, or causing cars to brake very hard and get hit from behind.
– I mean that the rules for the road should be followed so that NO CAR / BIKE / MOTORBIKE / CYCLE is coming from the wrong side, or is not staying in the lane.
– I mean that the roads and rules should be followed so that if an AAM AADMI is injured and is in an ambulance – the traffic stops and moves to the left hand side of the road to let the ambulance or the fire engine pass – like happens in developed countries.
– I mean that the traffic police size should be doubled or tripled even so that every single person who cuts a red light is caught – so that everyone will know that if they break the law then there is a 100% chance they will be caught.
– I mean that traffic education should begin in school – and that the driving age should actually be lowered – becuase the more experience you have in driving – the better you become. In USA, you can get a learners license at the age of 16 – and the local schools provide after-school classes to teach their students driving. Knowing how to drive is a good skill for peopl eto have – and it can also help with employment opportunities – why should it not be taught properly and carefully – so that the new generation of of Indians drives correctly?

And lastly – the name of your party.
Sir – please understand – I am not trying to be arrogant, or to act like I know everything – but I believe that you should change the name of your party. I do not believe that with a name like ‘Aam Aadmi Party’ you will manage to appeal to all voters. I believe that we should try to aim for a slightly higher level – a more aspirational name – because the name has a lot of impact. If we take words from Hindi / Sanskrit that have a deeper level of meaning – I believe we will impress the voters more. I believe that currently – the party is viewed as a low-level force which is only causing trouble – not reforming the country. Again – I am not trying to criticise all that you have done – please understand – I respect you GREATLY for the COURAGE you have shown and the HARD WORK you have put in to get as far as you have. I am not a political expert – but I cannot help but tell you waht i see and believe. Please take my suggestion in the positive spirit that it was given.

If we choose a more sophisticated name – like Ekta or Vikas or Mukt or Azaadi or Parivartan – words with a deeper level of meaing – then every voter can understand what the party is trying to do. When we say we are the ‘Aam Aadmi party’ – what does that mean? What do we think about India? What does that name say about the future of this country? We should be more positive and forward looking.

Sir – I will stop now, because this e-mail has become too long. But please understand – I am not writing this e-mail because I think that I know more than you do, respected sir – this e-mail just represents my opinion and what I believe we need to do fix India and make it the great and beautiful country that it deserves to be. Freedom for each and every person in this land. And the safety, security and opportunity for them to fulfill their dreams.

I hope you will accept this e-mail in the positive spirit in which it was written. I would very much like to get actively involved in helping the party be successful in these upcoming elections.

Bad luck Tarun, Your HERO AK has joined hands with the same crooks who sucked you dry. There is no hope now. The Congi snakes will do their best to obfuscate the real issues that need to be addressed. So you will continue to ROT. May be you need to wait another 10 years. I think you can as you are used to tortures and indignity anyway.

Hope Tarun and other naivete like him have by now realized that they have no long term plans because their masters will not fund them after the general elections are over, their aim is only to stop Modi, not any long term vision

If I want to get rid of Congress , I will not vote for AAP because of following signs or signals which I found not convincing.
(1) I found very disturbing the news of immediate before the April 2011 fast of Mr Anna where “MMS is looking for excuses and ways to re-impose EMERGENCY ” was a recurrent theme. And the concept of Jan Lokpal was very similar to Polit Bureau / Elders / Guides of Communist/Dictatorship(Military or otherwise). The concept with which members of demacracy-hater NAC are identified.

(2) The inability of MMS to win a popular vote is a big open -wound of MMS and hence I found this drama with abuses for popularly elected politicians [ necessary for democracy just as friction for human walk) , necessarily from non-communist allegiance as very threatening. Ms Uma Bharti or Mr Chautala were shooed away but communist were allowed [ ofcourse with tag as social-activists). I suspect a hidden agenda.

(3)I was aware of essays/articles by Sri Khare ex-media-advisor of MMS most probably in The Hindu, hinting the turf war between Pranab Da and MMS regarding PM post. Both believe to have first right over PM post. The shifting of Pranab from Defence was big point of conflict between two,

(4)Checked the credentials of back room boys organising this show. Not ones on the stage but backroom boys/ girls.

(5) heard the rumour as how this fast was brought to national stage by Arnab after a few calls from right source.[ degree of believe on rumour increased after reading the Caravan report on Arnab]

(6)I was aware that ex-PM Sri Gujral was indebted to MMS for his help in last election. Alos that Sri Gujral is connected to Times group through maariage. Another leading light Sri Sri jee association with Times group is like that of sugar with milk.

The REAL TRUTH is that it was a well orchestrated drama [ see movie MAIN AZAAAD HOON featuring Amitabh and Shabana to understand what drama].

The aim was to introduce DICTATORSHIP through backdoor . It was the anti-Pranab faction of Congress who were actively participating as back room boys in organsising the drama.

The move back fired as BJP refused to hand over tag of graft fighter to Kejriwal.The general mood in public was anti-congress and not anti-graft. Even though they tried hard to include politician of all hue to establish their credentials but go-slow on CWG but high-decibel on 2G and Sharad Pawar was all indication of attempt to undermine ones who could be the potential rival of MMS.

The fight back by Pranab and ensuring that DICTATORSHIP cannot make back room entry.We are indebted to Pranab for this fight back.

Mr Anna lost his zeal to fast , once the promised President post , was captured by Pranab.

Mr Kejriwal lost his favour with Congress NAC , as he fail to make stage for entry of Rahul G as “GAME CHANGER “.

Now as far as splitting ant-Congress vote , I am going to vote for one who can replace Congress at Centre . I think voting to express dis-enchantment with both Congress and BJP will be costly for me as well as nation.
There are other means and forumn which can be used to comment on poor quality of politician but voting AAP to express such a view will be dwnright suicidal

Can you share the articles (links to them) that made you conclude the “REAL TRUTH”? would be interesting to analyze. None of the points you mentioned drive to conclude any criminal or corruption case against AAP or Anna (or his team) who were fasting. Congress and BJP (top to bottom) members (and their family members 🙂 ) have a slew of corruption and criminal cases going on against them (and these cases keep increasing every year). So, you can vote for any party that will replace congress and may be it will. But, will it solve any of out problems? NO. If BJP comes to power, you will still have corruption cases (wont you). So until it is known as a fact by way of justice system that AAP has members that have criminal or corruption cases (or investigations like CBI or CAG) going against them and AAP has trying to retain such a member, I support AAP.

In my perception I feel, this is the way(AAP),.. Opponents using to grab all the votes of youths of this country who support BJP.. , and waste those votes.
By representing some good IRS and IPS officers…people always think…those guys are very educated and they are best comparing with others.
I feel we should give chance to BJP for another ten years, and watch.
It will be tough time for BJP , because they have to start from scratch…Best of luck..

Does anyone here seriously believe that AAP and Kejriwal have it in them what it takes to deliver good governance and rid India of corruption? AAP is merely a bunch of middle class opportunist wannabe politicians who want to become powerful to do the same things that they publicly rail against. Either that or if they arent so then they should get themselves a leader who can demonstrate how to change the systemic issues of this country and all the attendant evils.

Dear mr Rajesh, Tell me one thing, when did bjp looted you ? bjp had been in power for just 6 years and they have got a long list of good work they have done in such a short span of time. This mentality, that all are same, is what congress has created in our minds. When a student is caught cheating, what does he say to save himself? that everyone do the same. This is what congress do when they are caught cheating, “Sab chor hain”. So that they are not only one to be blamed. but just think, “Are they actually same?” think of the reasons why they are same and why different? This is the high time to think it yourself and stop adding to the chorus that “sab chor h”!!

@Sam – my dear friend,
For a moment forget about Congress, BJP, or any other party… Now, answer this simple question: If these parties are so clean why are they shying away from being in scope of RTI? This should make it clear that “sab #*$^ chor hain!”
Now, coming to your BJP – why are you counting only the period when BJP was in centre. Did you forget what happend in Karnataka?
Dear @Sam its all relative – Congress is the worst, BJP is better, and AAP is far far better.

@rajeshdebnath:disqus, May be you forgot what happened in Karnatka, I still remember it very well. As soon as the BJP came to know of the wrongdoings of yeddyurappa they kicked him out of the party, even if they had to pay for it heavily in terms of loosing karnatka. Unlike AAP and congress who are continuously protecting their corrupt members like anjali damania, prashant bhushan, etc. BJP took a strong decision even against one of their senior leader when found guilty, and this is not the first time that BJP acted so strictly against corrupt and indiscipline in party. BJP has over lakhs of member, and finding 1 or 2 bad fishes is very much acceptable. The main point is that they up rooted the corrupt as soon as they found about it.

Now, coming to the only agenda of AAP, i.e. RTI.. AAP doesnt have any national or local agenda except RTI. For every good or bad thing they hide behind a single point agenda that why all parties are against RTI. But when it comes to themselves they hide their faces. Why AAP doesnt implement RTI in their party? why they dont answer publicly to our questions? why mr. kejriwal refused to answer the 11 letters saying that political parties doesn’t fall under RTI? I have personally written so many letters to AAP seeking information, and none of them were answered. Why they moderate all the comments posted on their website under various pages like donations. No wonder all the comments only read good things.
And as far as other parties are concerned, have you ever listened to their viewpoint? political parties are not govt. bodies, they dont get any aid from govt. so according to law they cant be under RTI. Political parties give all the details of expense and income to ECI, and anyone can get these details from ECI. Now, assume what will happen if parties are made under RTI. they will start receiving lakhs of RTI application from all around the country. To answer them, they will require extra infrastructure and man power. which will add to their expenses. Now tell me, Who will pay for these expenses in terms of money and time? And you know what sort of applications they will receive? why so and so candidate was given ticket? why so and so person was appointed at the post of secretary in the so and so mandal? who will be your next PM candidate? who is the doctor of rahul gandhi and how much is his expenditure on medical facilities? how much sonia gandhi spend in her parour? dont you think such questions are just not relevant? The relevant thing is the accounts and that are already submitted to ECI.

RTI is to know how the taxpayers money is used, so you can ask them how the tender of specific project was awarded. RTI is not to ask why so and so candidate was given ticket. Its internal matter of the party to decide whom to give the ticket or whom to appoint as president. Just think about it.

@Sam, So you think BJP has made the decission to throw Yeddyurappa out because he was found guilty, great. They did not have any option – they sensed they would loose anyway. Why is BJP silent on Asaram? Ok, you know more about BJP than me, so leave it here. Let us assume BJP is the greatest party ever!

Now coming to AAP, saying AAP does not have any agenda except RTI is like asking a fresher about his/her experience :). BTW, they do have agenda – Right to Recall/Reject, Jan Lokpal Bill, and SWARAJ – decentralization of power.

Reg. Anjali Damania and Prashanth Bhushan – you are talking about individuals – who has stopped the Government (or you) to file a case against them and dig out all details. Government has CBI, IT Dept. which they can use to screw them. Why don’t they just do it? It’s all crap – created by government and media nexus.
In the end, this would be my last reply to you as I see no point in just discussing. Reiterating my words, we all want to get rid of corruption but we don’t do anything and when somebody is doing it we will not let him do – this is the attitude (unfortunately its not only you there are many with such an attitude.)

“You can wake up a person who is sleeping. But you cannot wake up a person who pretends to be sleeping.”

The same rules apply to APP too. When AK was doing press conferences to tell corruption of Robert Vadra, he was talking about an individual. So who had stopped him to file case against him in courts? It’s one thing to say something and another to walk the same path.

Rajesh, Now you need to mind your Business and clean others shit. Your HERO AK has joined hands with the same crooks who sucked you dry. There is no hope now. The Congi snakes will do their best to obfuscate the real issues that need to be addressed. So you will continue to ROT. May be you need to wait another 10 years. I think you can as you are used to tortures and indignity anyway.

you reflect the AAPtards ideology quite correctly, all except AAP are wrong. Civil rights, Fundamental rights, right to free speech everything will be sacrificed at the altar of AK’s greed and symptomatic diseases and you will ask us to keep quiet? What has he actually done? Only crookedness with Anna and at every step after that, see his track record for yourself? Are you guys really blind? or feigning blindness? or just AAPtards?

Dear Anup, its not about if AAP can win or not. I say even if AAP is capable of winning the coming election then also we should not vote for them. Because in reality they are no different then congress. How can we let the party, which has their foundation laid on lies and , rule our state?

This bunch of idiots will disappear the moment the elections are over. They will split the party, migrate to greener pastures or they will do what Chandrababu did to NTR or merge wholesale with the Congress. AK’s track record is terrible, he has created a new turn called the Kejriturn, add to that the back ground of the people who work with him-his close circle. And then they ofcourse banked on the likelihood of well meaning idiots who have become NRI’s and would want to do something for the country. Quite a potboiler-AAPtards is what comes up. The good part is that the Aam Janta of this great country will see through this great double cross which they have planned with ‘Con’gress–you scratch my back in Delhi & we will scratch your back all over India, game up! AAPtards

BJP has last touch with the pulse of the people. During the ongoing child rape protests in Delhi, BJP’s entire national leadership was sitting on its fat asses until AAP took the issue to streets.

I will vote for BJP only if it commits for Narendra Modi as its leader. Otherwise I do not see any difference between BJP and Cong. Both are equally rotten. Efforts to find subtle nuances between the degree of rottenness of Cong vs BJP is an exercise in self delusion. Frankly I will prefer a Sheila Dixit any day over a Vasundhara Raje.

So, if Modi is not BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, I will vote for AAP, even if it means a victory for Congress. It is more important to ensure that AAP does not get completely demoralized rather than ensuring victory for a B team of Congress.

I just dont understand, why people think that congress and bjp are same. BJP had been in power for just 6 years and they have a long list of good work they have done in that short period. Congress has been in power for almost 6 decades, and they have very very long list of corruption. The only reason BJP dont come in power is because they dont believe in minority appeasement. They work for the welfare of country not for any specific community. Which is good for all (including minority) in long run. But people dont understand this thing.

What’s wrong with calling a spade a spade? Or for that matter, calling a person who is half-Italian and half-Indian a half-breed? Is there something special about being a “full-breed”?

When I refer to Raul Vinci’s heritage, it is a neutral description. What a particular reader takes away from that neutral description is colored by the prejudices he brings to it. I always refer to Raul as half Italian and half Indian and his mother as a full Italian.

There’s a good reason for me to do that. It is a matter of divided loyalties.

BTW, yes, BHO is also a half-breed. And yes, referring to BHO as a half-breed is accurate. Is it necessary? In certain circumstances it may be necessary. For instance, under certain circumstances one may say that BHO has Negro ancestry. Or that he is black. Or that he’s of mixed race, etc. etc.

Bottom line: don’t be afraid to use words as long as they are accurate. Aim for truthfulness and not political correctness.

That I saw is an incomplete statement and may lead to loss to our country, as even though AAP will take votes out from both BJP and Congress but the manifesto that Aravind have, can’t be thought even by BJP. Please take some time out to listen to this which is pretty much at per with your post on ” why nation fail”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2PoHeNpqws&feature=share

This is the most bullshit article/blog I have ever read in my life. It basically says that if there are two parties which are both corrupt at their core and in their principles, it is best to vote a corrupt party which is not in power. If everyone follows this approach, WE the people of India will never win. So, imagine this. In world war 2, Allied forces (which included England) and Japan were against each other. From India’s independence and future perspective, both forces were equally not beneficial. So, from your flawed ideology perspective, Gandhiji should have sided Japan and helped them to gain control of India. Your Ideology is fundamentally flawed and negates fundamental principles that are required any country and person to be a great country and person. Anyone who believes in eradicating corruption should ONLY vote to AAP. Period. Don’t fall for all these f**ked up articles created by people who do not have enough knowledge (no matter how educated they may seem on paper)! As God says, follow the righteous path and victory is sure.

Dear Concerned, now you are f***ked up. Your HERO AK has joined hands with the same crooks who sucked you dry. There is no hope now. The Congi snakes will do their best to obfuscate the real issues that need to be addressed. So you will continue to ROT. May be you need to wait another 10 years. I think you can as you are used to tortures and indignity anyway.

I will give you a more rational reason not to vote for AAP. When we had JP movement the regional heros were Mulayam and Lalu. Believe me our ask anybody to recall : people used to swear on Lalu and Mulayam’s name. But see what happened. Look them now. Can you swear on their name? No.
We have to understand simply changing the people is doing nothing. What happens is when people come to politics; the system is so dirty that each and every one has to Fall In Line. That leads us to a simple conclusion. YOU WILL HAVE TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM.
Now to change the system you will have to have necessary laws like Right To Recall etc. With that I come to Arvind Kejriwal. He never speaks of this law but only twice. His website says we have appointed a ‘committe’ (like congress does) who has been thinking over it for 2 years now with no intention to include it.
No points for guessing they don’t want to include it.
You will argue that they want a Lokpal Bill. And now please read carefully : Lokpal bill is a new way to loot this country..how?..Lokpal has 11 members and it will be very easy for foundations like Rockefeller to buy JUST 11 PEOPLE instead of a hajoom of ministers. Please understand Arvind Kejriwal is working for this very foundation and hence his foreign funding indirectly through so called NRIs.
Methods of looting has changed a great deal and people like him will be there and you will be fooled by their simple clothes and soft skills. There is no way we can vote for congress. The only alternate is BJP. Sure it is mildly currupt. But by any stretch of imagination they do not compromise of national srcurity ; has very strong and nationalist leaders ; talk sense; support Hindus. That is what we need. Bhai jab aap sarkar chalaoge to bilkul imaandaar ho hi nahi sakte. If anybody thinks so he is living in fool’s paradise.

This is an extremely correct article. A vote to AAP is just like a vote to Congress. The same thing had happened in Andhra Pradesh in 2009. The shameless YSR’s government was filled with filthy scams, but yet with the help of Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam, it detoured all the anti-Congress votes and helped the Congress in winning. And it did not take even a year’s time after the election results for Chiranjeevi to show his true colors by merging his party with Congress. The same thing is going to happen again in Andhra Pradesh in 2014. The difference is this time it is not Chiranjeevi, it is Jagan Mohan Reddy. People in Andhra Pradesh state are blind as they cannot see, that in national level politics, YSR Congress has become an ally of Congress. Though this is a state specific issue, I am extremely worried, it is going to also happen in national level this time because of AAP. Hope BJP wins in 2014 as I am sick of price rise, wide scale corruption, disrepute of India in international stage and above all, a dumb, powerless Prime Minister being controlled by Italians.

kujriwal is more of a uturnwal.. again you PAAP Party members thing only AAP party members are free from PAAP.. I agree with u all on Pappu… AAP reminds of few things.. separatist = AAP (Kashmir).. communist = AAP (Batla House encounter is fake).. marxist = AAP (quota to only delhities).. traitor = AAP (Dawood can join AAP).. anarchy = AAP (doesnt respect national flag & republic day)… AAP = CONgress (taking support from most corrupt of India) “AAPCON”.. I am aam aadmi but aam aadmi party doesnt represent me..

Good one! I knew this always. Mr. Yogendra Yadav is member of NAC, the advisory team of Sonia Gandhi and very close to her. Arvind Kejriwal’s wife has been in the IT dept in Delhi for last 10 years without getting any transfer ever, not possible without having political connections with the govt. Arvind Kejriwal or anyone in the AAP has never uttered a single word against Sonia Gandhi’s immense wealth and the sources for the same. The so called expose against Robert Vadra without any action was nothing but a gimmick to show they are against Congress. Why Kejriwal has never sought a public appointment with Sonia Gandhi when he does so against Modi all the time.

All those supporting AAP, open your eyes, you are indirectly supporting UPA3.

yeah, you have summed up the mood of the nation. We dont want Congress to have any say in the fate of the country anymore and seeing what the AAP did in Delhi we would not want a repeat of that at the National Level. Even if the AAP is an honest noble party they cannot get a majority so its ok if they are in the opposition for 5 years, they can learn and we can judge a little more about them, they will have time to sort thru their party workers and get rid of the riff raff and bored housewives, rich socialites, retired corporate types, out-of-work freedom fighters relatives and so on and keep only the serious people. It is best if they waited, they are in a hurry. In the meanwhile we cannot have an experiment Govt. The BJP cannot be too bad, all said and done there is progress in Gujarat and only a really biased person can deny that. Also Modi is arrogant, arrogantly proud of India, this kind of faith is required to fix the country.